Vindication
by JWBullfrog
Summary: You can try to leave the past behind, but it isn't always easy.


chapter1: VINDICATION

It was raining in the Rogue Islands. It seemed that every time she'd come here it was raining. The young crime fighter had begun to believe that somebody was doing it to her on purpose.

"Huh," she said under her breath as she huddled next to a broken section of wall trying to find some warmth, "You'd think with everything he's got under his thumb Recluse would invest in some weather control technology." She laughed quietly as the thought occurred to her, "then again, he probably likes rain."

She called herself Quiet Vindication. It wasn't the most exciting name for a crime fighter, but it reminded her why she kept doing it. Somebody had to try to make up for other people's sins.

_And at least once a week I voluntarily walk into Hell_, she thought.

Tonight she was on Mercy Island tracking members of the Skulls, a street gang that made up a large part of the Paragon City drug trade. It seemed that no matter how many were arrested by Paragon's heroes, they always came crawling back out of the woodwork.

_Like roaches_, she always thought.

This particular group held special interest to her since they were selling to students in the dorms at the University. People she shared classes with. People she knew.

Movement across the street brought her thoughts back to the present. There were three of them, all in the typical leathers and skull masks she had gotten all too familiar with. From her angle she couldn't be certain that these were the ones she wanted but they had to be going somewhere important. Even gang members wouldn't go out on a night like this if they didn't have to.

She wasn't the greatest tracker out there but she'd been in the game long enough to know how to follow people without being seen. For once tonight, the weather was making her life easier. The gang members never bothered to look around. After a few blocks, she dropped back into the shadows as the Skulls entered one of Mercy's numerous burned out buildings.

_At least it'll be indoors_.

One of the first things you learned as a Hero was that there was always more than one way in to a building. Unless you were someone like Statesman, walking in through the front door was almost always a lot of pain followed by a quick teleport to the nearest hospital. Neither of those options sounded good tonight. A quick search found a fire escape in pretty good condition and an unguarded window a few floors up.

In an empty office she pulled the waterproof pack she had been carrying off of her back and opened it up. Inside were the compound bow and the special arrows that had become the tools of her trade. She had started her career without any kind of weapon but after a few very painful defeats, she admitted that she needed something more than her mutant healing abilities and some basic martial arts training.

Gang lairs always seemed the same. The sounds of voices, shouts, and several radios all playing different music and all too loud. The smell of old fried foods, smoke, unwashed bodies, and other things she was trying not to think too much about. Pornographic graffiti sharing wall space with the latest centerfolds, puddles of leaking water and other liquids.

_OK, we get it, you're antisocial. Can't you at least set off a bug bomb or two?_

Slowly she continued down through the building. It had been easy so far, she'd only run into two Skulls and a couple of quick net arrows and some knockout gas solved that problem. They were now sleeping it off in a broom closet. Unlike some heroes, she didn't enjoy violence. She wouldn't kill unless she had no other choice.

She stopped near the top of a set of wide stairs. From what little she could see they led down into a large room. It sounded like a lot of people were down in that room, a lot of ANGRY people.

_Great._

" I told you to stay away from the University!"

"But we're selling there..."

"The place is crawling with capes these days"

"They ain't nothing..."

"Yeah, they can't stop us..."

"SKULLS! SKULLS! SKULLS!"

_And now they're chanting. I'm alone in an abandoned building, on Mercy Island, at night, with a street gang who are ready to kill the first hero they see. Why me?_

She reached over her shoulder to the quiver on her back. Her fingers searched through the fletchings until she one particular arrow. She always carried the explosive ones with her hoping not to need them. Sadly, she almost always did. She fitted the first to the string and stepped to the top of the stairs.

"Don't make me use this!" she shouted as silence spread across the room. Twenty death's heads stared up at her. The safeties on twenty guns clicked off.

_Oh, Sh..._

The fingers on her right hand opened releasing the arrow she had drawn. In less than a second it flew down the stairwell and impacted in the center of the room. A microsecond later, the explosive tip detonated throwing the nearest gang members toward the walls. Spinning on her heels, she didn't wait to see the results. She knew her only chance was to spread them out in a running battle. If she could get them split into ones and twos, she might have a chance.

Bullets were already tearing into the walls as she sprinted down the hallway. Her fingers found one of her glue arrows and she stopped just long enough to send it behind her in a quick snap shot.

_Hope that wor..._ "Aaagh!"

She could feel the bullets as they hit her back and legs. She stumbled from the impact and the pain but kept running. She focused for a moment and triggered her healing gift. Wounds that would have been fatal in a normal human closed instantly. This was the real reason for her success, an almost instant ability to heal herself and others. As long as the damage wasn't immediately fatal she could keep fighting.

_Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt._

It all became a blur. Up stairs and down halls, taking shots where she could. She knew that she had taken some of them out of the fight but not enough. She hit the door to the roof with her shoulder and burst out into the storm.

She skidded over the wet surface, her feet sliding out from beneath her. She bounced off of a defunct A/C unit and landed face first on the torn roofing wasn't fatal but she couldn't draw a decent breath and focus. She could hear the sound of the bolt on an assault rifle being drawn back.

"You know what?" growled a voice behind her "You hurt us. You hurt a lot of my boys bad and now I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to break all the bones in your body and make you wish you were dead but I ain't going to kill you until I can dig that microchip out of you and make sure you stay dead."

She had just started to crawl toward the roof edge when the first bullets hit. A line of burning pain shot across her back and into her shoulders. She collapsed briefly as she felt her legs go dead. She knew she was paralyzed and in too much pain to focus clearly. She had only one chance to survive, she had to make it to the edge of the roof.

"Where you going Hero? You think you can get away? I ain't done with you. My boys ain't done with you. You gonna be with us for a long time."

The gun fired again. Bullets tore into the old tar paper and bounced off metal and concrete. She felt two more impacts and her pain deepened. Slowly she kept moving forward. The edge of the roof was just inches away.

"What? You gonna jump cape? I guess I'll just have to shoot your hands off."

The skull had moved far enough out of the doorway that she could see him at the edge of her vision. His face was a covered with human skull that he used as a mask. Only their leaders had those. Bone Daddys they were called and they were nothing less than brutal killers. She could feel warm tears from her eyes mixing with the cold rain. If he fired again, she would never get away and he would kill her.

He raised the gun to his shoulder and pulled the trigger but, instead of the sound of automatic fire, she heard the click of the bolt jamming. As the Skull started swearing and trying to free the jam she levered her body out over the edge of the roof and looked down. There was nothing below her except the street six stories below her. With the last of her strength she pulled herself over the edge and surrendered to gravity.

_Please, let this work..._

The first sight she saw when she opened her eyes was the face of a weary looking intern. As her eyes regained focus she could see the familiar Crey reclamation units lining the opposite wall. As she had hoped, the fall damaged her enough to activate the recovery circuits all heroes had. By committing suicide, she had saved her own life.

"Welcome my dear," said a voice from behind her. "You are a very unexpected guest, but I hope you are well now?"

Something about the voice was sobering. As her mind started to clear she could make out more details of the room around her. The walls were bare and industrial looking. The colors and shapes were all wrong for a recovery ward. She tried to sit up as the realization hit her but restraints held her down.

"That's right my dear," said the voice again as a woman in the elaborate headdress and uniform of one of Recluse's Fortunatas stepped into her line of sight. "You are a guest of Arachnos. I hope you enjoy your stay."

chapter 2: VENDETTA

_Well, at least it finally stopped raining, _was Angelica Vendetti's first thought as the hum of the matter transport beam died off. The crumbling wasteland of Mercy Island was someplace she usually stayed away from. "Lord" Recluse used the place as a sort of Darwinian boot camp for his newest superhuman recruits. More than a few would be "Masters of the World" disappeared into the back alleys and sewers never to be seen again. Except maybe in smaller, ready to use pieces in the Facemaker's freezer. Only the smartest or most vicious made it out.

She looked out over the top deck of Fort Darwin, one of Arachnos' two outposts on the island. She could see the latest batch of orange jumpsuits climbing out of the hold of a flyer. Normally it might be fun to watch them fidget while the Arbiters gave the traditional "Orientation" speech, but she had other business tonight. Burke said he had something that might interest her but he would not talk about it over the phone.

_Probably just another excuse to stare at me, _she thought as she let herself drift slowly to the ground. Flight was just one of the more enjoyable side effects of having superpowers. For a person with the right mindset, there were other benefits as well.

Burke usually set up shop in an alley just a block or so from the front doors of Darwin. Close enough to hear the gunshots and the dying screams of those the drones decided were "troublemakers". He always claimed he liked to be close to the action but she figured he'd been standing there for long enough to start liking it. Usually she avoided the old creep but his information was rarely wrong and almost always profitable.

She could hear the low drone of voices as she rounded the corner in to the alley. Burke had made a career out of recruiting new talent. It was well-known that he had no love for the Spiders so youngbloods that didn't want to be part of Recluse's grand experiment usually came to him first. Angelica had been one of those not all that long ago. Shaking her head at her own foolish sentimentality, she walked through the shadows to where Burke waited.

"Ah, Doc Vendetta, " Burke said as he looked up and saw her approaching. "Give me a moment to finish up with this charming young lady will you?" The "charming" young lady was dressed in black silk, satin, and lace. Her hair was jet black and fell straight to the middle of her back. She had too much mascara around her eyes, too little sun on her skin and about two inches too many on her heels.

"Come back to me when you've finished with that." he said as the young woman ran off. His eyes lingered on her retreating form a little longer than necessary before he turned back to where Angelica was standing.

"Another Zombie Master, Burke?" Doc asked.

"How can you tell?"

"Well the uber goth-bad vampire flick look was my first hint," she said with a touch of scorn in her voice "but honestly its the smell. Every time I work with one I feel like I need to shower for a week. Now what's so important that you had to drag me back here?"

"I don't suppose you'd believe me when I said it was just for the pleasure of your company?" the faint tone of hope in his voice faded as a faint glow formed around her hands. Burke knew that she wasn't the most dangerous villain that he worked with but she could still leave him in a lot of pain. He decided not to push his luck.

"About a week ago the Spiders increased security at one of their labs over in Cap Au Diable. My informants tell me that an entire strike group has moved in and one of those mind witches seems to be running the show. Nobody can tell me what they're up to in there but it has to be important. Anything they put that much firepower around is probably worth knowing about."

Doc's eyes narrowed as she thought about it. She didn't really have any personal issues with Arachnos. A mercenary could not afford to hold grudges. You never knew who your next employer would be. She'd made a respectable fortune selling her mutant healing talents to various criminal groups throughout the islands and, if she avoided making the wrong kind of enemies, she would be able to give it all up in a year or two. Still, Burke had a point. Anything Arachnos put that much effort into was probably valuable to somebody.

"Standard terms?" she asked. Burke was honest in his own way. Never in all of the time she had worked with him had he cheated on a deal.

"Of course. I'll pay you for information, even more if it's something you can bring to me. I don't care what you do to get it, just as long as it doesn't bring the Spiders to my door."

"If there are as many troops there as you say there are I'll need to call in some friends."

"As many as you like Doc. If the information is good I'll pay them as well."

"I'll take it. One last thing Burke, " she turned and stared him directly in the eyes, "Why give this to me?"

"You're as honest as anyone gets around here. It may be foolishly sentimental of me, but I respect that."

Two nights later, Doc was standing behind a pile of crates in a restricted corridor of one of the many supposedly impregnable Arachnos facilities in the Rogue Islands. The smell of ozone filled the air as energy bolts shot past her. This had not been one of her better nights. She'd already had to resuscitate two of the members of the team who went down in the initial push on the entrance and she had been working her abilities close to the limit. The Spiders had more drones in the facility than she expected and had used them to scatter her team. Now a combined squad of Arachnos soldiers and Mu Adepts were driving her into a corner.

"This is Doc, I could use some help here!" she shouted into her headset. She'd been hearing nothing but static for the last few minutes and wondered if it was her own natural radiation or if the rest of her team were still functional.

She stepped out between the piles of crates and pointed her hands toward the soldiers. An almost invisible bolt of focused microwaves shot from her left hand spearing straight into the chest of the remaining Mu. She'd been playing tag with him for the last few minutes and she smiled as he crumpled to the floor. She didn't get to enjoy her success for long as the four remaining soldiers started to charge her position.

A brief moment of concentration activated another aspect of her abilities and the area around the soldiers flooded with radiation. It wouldn't last long enough to kill them but it would make them sick enough to slow their reactions. It might give her the few seconds she needed. She took a deep breath and sprinted directly toward them. She was pretty certain she was immune to her own radiation effects but it couldn't hurt not to breathe it in. She had to get past them.

Doc had managed to open up a small lead before the first of the bolts hit her. It hurt, but she could deal with the damage. The second bolt knocked her off of her feet and sent her sprawling headfirst into a set of pipes along the wall. Colored lights danced in the corners of her vision as she staggered to her feet. She had to keep moving. Arachnos was not known for it's humane treatment of prisoners.

Two more shots bounced off of the walls around her. The radiation was having an effect but they were gaining too quickly. Doc rounded a corner and ran straight into a cloud of darkness.

A deeper patch of black moved past her. Although, stalked might have been a better description.

For the first time in several hours, Doc smiled and let herself relax. Things were about to go very wrong for the Spiders and she had a ringside seat. Knowing what was coming, she dropped to the floor... and covered her ears.

Ever since the Rikti invasion crushed her throat and destroyed her voice, Whispering Swan had anger issues.

Deep...Dark... Primal...Issues.

On her good days she was moody and introverted. Occasionally, a bit of the charm and personality that helped make her a star would even show through. On her bad days though, people died.

Just like Doc, this had not been a good day for her.

The Arachnos soldiers stopped in confusion. Doc knew they were facing a brightly lit hall and that they couldn't see a thing. Before their minds could sort things out, Doc watched Swan take a deep breath and open her mouth. Swan's scream lashed out at the soldiers with a solid wall of force. All four were thrown backwards and into the wall beyond. A second shout burst eardrums. A third crushed ribs and stopped hearts. It only took a few seconds but it would be minutes before Doc's ears stopped ringing.

"Are you alright?" said Swan in the harsh whispering croak that was all that remained of her once famous voice.

Doc propped herself up on one elbow. "I'm aching. I'm tired. I want a bottle of wine and my hot tub. How are we doing?"

"That should be the last of them," said Swan as she helped Doc to her feet. "Scarlett and her misfits have already downloaded everything they could find in the computers and now they're busy grabbing anything that isn't nailed down."

"Well that should keep her band of thugs happy. Any sign of the Fortunata that Burke mentioned?"

Swan stopped walking and turned to face Doc. "No," she said. "We must have missed something. We haven't found anything big enough to be worth this many soldiers."

Doc was about to agree when she heard Scarlett's familiar British accent in her earpiece. "Bloody Hell Doc, I need you down here now." That was all the warning she gave before time and space twisted dropping the Doc into the center of what looked like a prison wing. Scarlett was standing a few feet away by the deactivated door of a holding cell. She looked upset. "My boys found someone. It's way beyond what I can fix."

Angelica looked at the figure in the cell. It was a young woman in torn, stained, clothing. Her hair was matted with old blood and dirt. Angelica's trained eyes recognized signs of severe physical trauma, and deprivation. As she gently brushed the hair out of the young woman's face, Angelica's breath caught in her throat.

"I need to get her out of here," Doc whispered. "I need to...," she paused, tears starting to slide down her cheeks. "I need to get her home."

"You know her?" Scarlett had worked with Doc for years and she'd never seen her react like this before.

"Yes." Angelica's face was wet with tears. "She's my sister...and she's a Hero."

chapter 3: OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FENCE

_What is...where is...how? _she thought, her mind twisting slowly in the breeze. _At least it's getting some fresh air._ She giggled softly before clasping her hand over her mouth. _Mustn't let them hear you Alice, the Queen is oh so upset. You shouldn't have told the Mad Hatter that his pants didn't match his shoes..._

The darkness set in again. The world faded from brilliant color to sullen Monochrome. Dim, dusty red light crept in from around the corners and green electrical arcs lurked in the corners.

_The Queen is coming...Now youve done it Alice... Keep calm...Stay polite... maybe she won't cut our head off this time ... NO!_

Daniella Vendetti woke up in bed. Warm yellow sunlight streamed in from the window and added a touch of warmth to the white linen sheets. A light scent of Lavender tickled her nose. It was all wrong. The window was on the wrong side of the bed and the paint was the wrong color.

_And I hate Lavender, _she thought.

Slowly she slid out from under the comforter and put her feet on the floor. The rug beneath her feet had the slightly soft, prickly, feeling of rough wool. A full-size mirror standing beside the head of the bed showed her reflection. Her short reddish-brown hair looked clean but also like it had not seen a brush for several days. She was dressed in an oversized shirt that reached down to mid-thigh. What she could see of her arms and legs looked free of scars and bruises.

_This isn't my apartment. Where am I?_

Her instincts and training began to take over. For some time now she'd been patrolling Paragon City under the name Quiet Vindication. Thanks to her inborn healing talents, she was one of the incredible number of superheroes that lived there. _Although "super" might be overstating it a bit after the last few days, _she thought bitterly. Her memories of the last few days were full of impossible images and blank patches. She could clearly remember fighting the Skulls and her desperate escape but after that things became...confused.

Her hand closed over a heavy glass ornament from the dresser opposite the bed. As a weapon it wasn't much, but it might give her a few seconds advantage.

She opened the door and stepped through the short hallway and into the room beyond. Tasteful leather chairs matched with the artwork on the walls and complimenting colors of curtains and pillows gave the overall effect of walking into an interior decorator's portfolio. Top of the line electronics shared shelf space with leather-bound books. She could see dimly lit rooms through other openings but it was the large picture window built into one wall that caught her attention.

The street six floors below her was lined with what looked like cobblestones; very unlike the broken concrete of her own Overbrook neighborhood. A normal looking crowd of people were moving through the streets but a particular group caught her attention. Standing on the nearest corner were a group of men in 1700's style clothing trying to hand bits of paper to the people walking by.

_Street performers? A band? Why does this remind me of something?_

A floating glimpse of yellow drew her eyes to another building down the block where three men in jetpacks slowly hovered. Things she had read started drifting back into her memory.

_Goldblockers...backers...Goldbrickers! But they've never come into the city before. The Renaissance Fair throwbacks are Luddites. Oh, this is NOT good._

She knew where she was. Cap Au Diable, another of the Rogue Islands. A better neighborhood than Mercy but much, much more dangerous. Assuming she could find the money, _and my clothes, _it would be at least two ferry trips to get her back to Mercy. From there she would have to sneak or bribe her way on to a ship going back to the mainland.

"I've got to get out of here," she said as she started to turn toward one of the other rooms she had seen earlier.

"You might want to get dressed first."

Quiet Vindication spun on her heels, right hand with the ornament raised high to either hit or throw, her left hand in a low blocking position. Behind her, leaning against the counter in a small kitchen, was a taller woman in white clothing. The woman was holding a green ceramic mug in her left hand and most of a bagel in her right. Her red hair was done up in a tight professional bun and a pair of red tinted sunglasses were tucked inside the neckline of her shirt. A faint greenish glow surrounded the woman as she set the mug and bagel down on the counter and started walking forward.

Vindication was taken by surprise at what seemed to be the other woman's sudden appearance. Her right hand shot forward, letting the ornament fly while her eyes frantically searched the room for anything else that she could use. The red haired woman effortlessly dodged the glass missile letting in crash into the cabinets behind her. Increasing her speed she took two steps forward and grabbed Vindication by the shoulders. Daniella was too weak to break the grasp but her struggles threatened to knock both women to the ground.

"Damn it Dani, knock it off! You're safe!"

Dani. Not Daniella. Not Quiet. Nobody had called her that for years not since...

"Angelica?" she said. This was one shock too many for the young crime fighter's mind and her knees collapsed.

"I'm called Doc here," said Angelica Vendetti as she guided the younger woman to one of the leather chairs.

She knew her younger sister was in good physical condition, having personally seen to her recovery over the last few days, but she was surprised at how strong her sister had become. Her mental image of Daniella would always be as a lanky twelve year old with her hair in braids and dirt smudges on her cheeks and forehead. Not the slim, athletic, twenty year old sitting across from her.

_How she looked the day I left home._

Anger replaced confusion in Daniella's mind. _Of all the people in the world, why her? This day just gets better and better._

"Yes, I know," Vindication said flatly. "The infamous Doc Vendetta, mercenary for hire. Need medical care for your terrorist organization or gang of Super Villains? Call Doc."

Daniella's hatred colored every word and gave her voice strength. "I know who you are. I know you threw away your gifts and your career and everything you'd been given to become a criminal. I know you've helped the worst killers in the world walk away from their crimes without a scratch while innocents die." She quickly stood and stared down at her older sister. "And I know you're no better than the gang thugs I was chasing."

Daniella turned to walk out of the room. Her clothes had to be somewhere in the apartment. Now it was even more important that she get out of here and back to Paragon City.

She managed only a few steps before two rapid waves of weakness overcame her. Her skin felt itchy like she had suddenly gotten a bad sunburn. She slumped slowly to her knees as she fought back a wave of nausea. If she could focus for a moment she should be able to use her talents to shake off the worst of the effects but she wasn't sure she'd be given the chance. Doc was standing over her, a heat shimmer covering her palms.

"I do not need to justify my life to anyone. Least of all to you or anyone else in our family." Doc's voice was toneless and as cold as the grave as she said the last word.

"I like my life. I have everything I want and I've gotten it on my own terms without somebody telling me I owe them for it. I'm doing more with my gifts than I would ever be allowed to in normal society and, despite what you think, I've done more to keep the world in one piece than wasting my time chasing down drug dealers and petty thieves. So spare me your hate and pity. Save it for yourself."

Daniella felt the weakness and nausea fade as she saw Doc walk past her into one of the unknown rooms. Now that she was able to breathe she closed her eyes and let her healer's gift flow through her body. She could feel tears in the corner of her eyes as adrenaline caused her to shake. She wanted to leap up and claw her sister's eyes out. She wanted to open the door and run until she couldn't run anymore. She wanted to scream and yell and cry. She wanted...

A bundle of clothes landed on the floor in front of her. A moment later a small bundle of papers landed on top of them.

"The I.D. and cash should be enough to get you onto the ferry to Port Oakes. If you change quickly you should still have time to get there before they shut down for the night. There's a door to Pocket D there and Zero owes me a favor, so you can get home that way." Doc walked into the kitchen and started cleaning up the broken glass. Behind her Daniella changed and started to open the door. Her hand paused on the doorknob.

"Angelica?" she started.

"Go home Dani," Doc said, without turning around. "Go back to Paragon City and do what you want with your life. Don't come back."

Behind her the door opened then swung shut.

"You're not safe here."

chapter 4: VALIDATION

Pocket D was never less than fabulous.

_But then what else would you expect from an extradimensional rave? _thought Daniella Vendetti as the brief disorientation of the portal crossing faded.

It had literally popped into existence a few years earlier and soon became the worlds most exclusive club. _Exclusive?_ thought Daniella as she stepped around the low screens blocking the main room,_ If you're not part of the "cape and cowl" set, then you'll never get past the front door. _

The club was the domain of a mysterious being known only as DJ Zero. Mutant or Magician, Scientist or Technofreak, absolutely nobody knew anything about him before his doors opened.

Since it was impossible for fights to happen in the main part of the club, Pocket D had quickly become something of a "no man's land" in the never ending war between heroes and villains. It wasn't unheard of to see people who, in other situations would be the deadliest enemies, sharing a quiet drink or dancing or generally getting a chance to be "normal" for a while.

A few years back, Zero had started hosting his infamous "holiday events" and, for a few days each year, things got decidedly silly.

Daniella smiled as she remembered the first time she had walked in on one of those. _Zombies in santa hats looking more miserable than usual and that whole deal with the Candy Canes. Granted, the ski slopes were a blast._

Her smile was short-lived as the full force of her anger came rushing back. Suddenly, even the lights and the beat and most elaborate decorations meant nothing. The one person in the world that she hated the most was the one she owed her life to.

_Damn her! _she raged silently. _Where does she get off lecturing me? She never saw how often mother cried when she was gone and she didn't have to watch as father drank himself to death after his 'perfect' daughter left home. Somebody had to take care of them. Somebody had to be resp... _Tears stung the corner of Daniella's eyes. _She never even came back for their funerals. _

Moving more by random impulse than any deliberate path, Daniella managed to cross the dance floor. So far it was a quiet evening. Only a few patrons lurked in the shadows and fewer still were dancing. She hadn't noticed that Zero had dialed down the lights giving the room a more intimate feeling. The trance-y, New Age-ish music he had switched to suggested meditation, contemplation, and peace.

_Save it Zero, _she thought bitterly. _I'm not in the mood._

"Good Evening Quiet Vindication. How may I help you?" The perfectly cool, professional voice interrupted her thoughts. By chance her path had taken her to the reception desk for the Vault Reserve branch inside Pocket D.

Like so many other things, the Vaults had appeared in the wake of the Rikti invasion and were now almost indispensible to superhumans. The Vaults provided storage for heroes and villains alike, giving them a place to keep their more unusual trophies. More importantly, it didn't matter what branch you used to put an item into storage, you could get to it from any other Vault office.

_I'll bet your little transdimensional fingers are all over that as well Zero, _thought Daniella as she opened her personal box. Instead of random bits of salvage, her box contained something even more important to her: her set of backup gear.

A few minutes later Daniella emerged from a nearby ladies room, dressed for a fight. A dark blue Kevlar vest covered her from neck to waist. A slightly worn, but still serviceable pair of her blue leather motorcycle pants and boots completed her wardrobe. Hanging from her back was a quiver full of specialized arrows and over her left shoulder was her old recurve bow; unstrung for now but not more than a few moments away from being ready for use.

_Not quite the power I've gotten used to with the compound, but it still has some life left in it. _

She considered tossing the bundle of borrowed clothing she had worn out of the Rogue Islands into the nearest trash bin but, instead, she returned to the Vault and placed them inside her box. _Another of her insults. An "I climbed Mount Diable and lived to tell the tale." T-shirt. HAH! I'll make sure you see that again Ange...DOC!_

Now that she was in the club, her only exit would be through the "hero" elevator. Part of Zero's rules was that nobody could use his club as a shortcut to the other side. A few Villains had tried over the years but they always ended up...elsewhere. Nobody was quite sure where, but there were stories. She nodded to the Longbow agent on elevator duty and stepped inside as soon as the door opened.

A few moments later the door opened again but, instead of the nondescript industrial hallway she was expecting, she found herself standing beside a well stocked bar inside a multi level, snow-covered, ski lodge. She knew the place, it was the setting for Zero's most recent "event". Faint music and yodeling could be heard echoing from the mountain while the sounds of a large fire were coming from the pit she knew was behind her and off to her left. Daniella knew who was responsible for this. After all, only one person's word was law inside Pocket D.

"Zero!" she shouted into the air as she slowly turned to look around the room. "Zero, I don't have time for this! I have to get home. I've lost enough time already and I have things to do."

"You have time for a drink," said a quiet male voice from behind the bar.

Daniella completed her turn to see DJ Zero handing her a steaming mug. The smell told her it was mostly coffee but with something more than cream and sugar added."It's Irish coffee, " he confirmed. "Legally, you're not allowed to have this. But I won't tell anyone if you don't."

"Zero, I really don't think..."

"You're right. You don't. Not where your sister is concerned."

Daniella was shocked by Zero's statement and even more so by the slight mocking in his tone of voice. Zero was known as the most impartial person in existence. She couldn't understand why he would know or even care about her and her sister.

Zero had moved out from behind the bar and sat down on a nearby sofa. He also had a drink but his was something Flamingo pink with a paper umbrella sticking out of it. He waved Daniella over to a padded chair and slowly sipped his drink while she sat down. He leaned back casually once she was settled.

"You know, if your sister hadn't called in the favor she did for me, you might not have made it out of the Islands alive. A certain one of Arachnos' Night Widows has spread the word that you are worth quite a lot of money if captured." He leaned forward, his face taking on an intensity nobody would have expected from him. "Make no mistake girl, a favor from me is no small thing and your sister used hers to make sure you were safe. If the spiders had gotten you back you would be spending the rest of your life strapped to a metal examination table somewhere while they sifted through your brain to find out why your gifts work."

"My...my...gifts?" she stuttered. "But Arachnos has plenty of people who can do what I do."

"But no Empaths," he continued.

"His Adepts can use magical spells and others like your sister can use their powers to heal in a crude, brute force, kind of way. There are even a rare few that can block the pain of others; but none of them have the raw power of an Empath.

You can heal the most fatal of wounds with a touch, give others the ability to ignore exhaustion, and even bring people back from death's door. If Arachnos could duplicate that in his forces, he would become all but unstoppable. No Empath will work for him and he can't force one to heal for him. The only thing he can hope for is that one will, somehow, " he stared at her, "come to the Rogue Islands and fall into his lap."

Daniella felt nauseous. Images from her nightmares were crowding into her conscious mind. Eyes, voices in her head whispering, demanding that she tell them the secret. PAIN! Suddenly, the blank part of her memories over the last few days became clear.

"O..oh god. Oh God, Angelica. She..." The tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Angelica had saved her. The sister she hated for so many years and blamed for so much wasn't the demon Daniella had made her out to be.

Zero pressed a small box into her hands. Tissues.

"Despite her name, don't make her some kind of saint." he said after a few moments. "Angelica Vendetti is a good woman with deep scars on her soul that will probably never heal. There isn't much she cares deeply about anymore and she's willing to walk down some of the darker paths that the rest of us avoid. Nobody can save her from that, perhaps not even someone with your gifts. She has to find her own way."

DJ Zero stood up and walked over to a wooden door set into the wall. "Whenever you're ready, this door will take you safely back to Overbrook and discharge my debt to your sister." He started to walk through the door when Daniella shot to her feet.

"Wait!" she said, halting his motion. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

"A brief silver glimmer brightened his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm not doing anything," he replied. "I only play the music, it's up to others to dance."

chapter 5: HEALER

"Daniella, where are you?"

Roselynn's voice was faint over the earpiece. She had healing gifts similar to Daniella's own but she was not used to working in the field.

Under her working name of Quiet Vindication, Daniella was an experienced crime fighter and normally, she would not take on a partner but she'd been a bit off of her game the last few weeks since coming back from the Rogue Islands, and needed the extra pair of eyes.

Today the pair were tracking down a group of Trolls that had tried to poison the drinking water supplies of Steel Canyon with a concentrated version of Superdine, the drug that gave them super strength and, eventually, mutated the user into a Troll. Since the drug almost always lowered the user's intelligence as much as it increased their strength, it had been almost embarrassingly simple to locate their stockpile and destroy the concentrate. Now all that was left was cleaning house and putting these Trolls somewhere where they couldn't do anymore damage.

"Can you get a mental fix on me Roselynn?" Quiet said as she watched the beam from her flashlight play across the opposite wall. "I don't think the GPS likes these cave walls. We got split up during that last fight and I don't want you getting too far away for me to help."

_"You sound so concerned," _Roselynn's mind voice had a gently mocking tone combined with a feeling of caring laughter. _"I know it's really because you need someone to watch where your arrows go when you miss."_

"Just catch up with me."

Daniella sent back, letting her anger bleed into the thought. From the moment they had walked into the caves, something had felt...wrong. Every step made the feeling worse and now all she wanted to do was drop her bow, turn, and run far, far away.

_Let someone else do this, _she thought. _I don't want to do this any more. I don't want to keep hurting people. I don't want to keep getting hurt. I don't..._

Daniella dropped to her knees as the walls bent and shifted like smoke. The cool, moist darkness of the cave became hot, dry and blood-red. The rough natural stone gave way to cold steel walls. Daniella covered her ears as a low rhythmic humming filled the space around her.

_No. Stop it. Stop it. STOP IT!_

"Stop what Dear?" said a voice from behind her. It wasn't Roselynn's. It was the voice that had been haunting her for weeks. The voice of her nightmares.

"My poor thing, " said the Night Widow who knelt beside her and gently stroked her hair. "My poor child. It's alright, I'm here now. I can help you if you let me. Please let me. Let me help..."

Daniella's mind raced. This was the person who hurt her but she was the person who could help her. She wanted to run but she wanted to stay. She wanted to fight and she wanted to lay down and die.

"That's right Dear, let me help." The widow leaned closer and brushed her lips over Daniella's forehead. "I'll make it all better."

The Widow raised her hand into the air and held it there for a moment as a steel blade slid out from the sheath on the back of her wrist. In one swift movement, the blade slashed down severing Daniella's neck, separating her head from her body...

"NO!" screamed Daniella as she tried to sit, stand, and run all at the same time. She struggled as a strong pair of arms pushed her back down onto her sofa. She was at home, but she couldn't be. She was just in the cave with Roselynn..she was...

_"Peace." _came the thought with all the unstoppable force of a Tsunami. Daniella's body went slack instantly while her mind still spun. Roselynn was kneeling next to her, holding Daniella's head in her hands.

"Look at me! Daniella? At me. Good. That's good."

Roselynn's eyes were a light hazel and were just a little slanted at the edges. Her dark hair was brushed back from her round face and her lips were pressed into a thin line as she concentrated.

"Dear Gods, the Bitch has really done a number on you, hasn't she. Ok, I need you to help me with this part. Daniella? Listen to me. I need you to think of something you care about. I'm giving you an anchor point to focus on when this happens again but I need a clear thought to work with."

Daniella could feel everything fading from angry red to a gentle blue-green as Roselynn's mind took control. Something she cared about? What? From somewhere deep inside she could feel a release like a knot untying and a white-hot image flooded into her mind.

_"That's good Daniella, very good...That's a strong image... Hm, Angels don't usually have red hair... I'm going to let you go now but I want you to sleep for a bit. We'll talk when you wake up."_

A few hours later Daniella woke up feeling more relaxed than she had in weeks. Roselynn sat watchfully in an overstuffed armchair across the room.

The older woman was dressed in her usual sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. She wasn't really overweight but she was too fond of her comforts to take exercise seriously.

Despite being a strong psychic, she had never felt the slightest desire to be a crime fighter. Instead of prowling the streets, bashing people over the head, she had established herself as a 'super shrink', helping the city's various super humans deal with severe mental trauma.

She had met Daniella a few years earlier when she helped Daniella get a grip on her newly emerging abilities. Over time, Roselynn had become of something of a surrogate parent.

"Feel better?" she asked, scanning with her talent. When the younger woman nodded she continued.

"It's a good thing that Widow couldn't work on you for very long." Roselynn slowly shook her head, a faint look of professional disgust on her face.

"Her talent is all power backed with the very basics of control and she could only try to blast her way into your mind. I thought Arachnos trained their people better than that. Eventually, she would have found out what she wanted to know.

By then, you would be better off dead.

What's been happening to you is very much like what happens to the victims of physical rape. I've undone the worst of it and given you some mental buffers to help soften the raw edges, but it's going to take time before you're really healed."

"How long?" Daniella asked.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, love, but I just don't know."

The older woman crossed the room and sat down on the bed. She pulled Daniella into a motherly hug as the younger woman's eyes filled with tears.

"You will get better Daniella Vendetti. This I promise you. You will be the strong, intelligent, beautiful, young woman I know you are. " Tears slowly inched down her cheeks as she spoke. "I just can't promise you will ever be Quiet Vindication again."

chapter 6: ALLIES

_There's just something wrong with having an intelligent conversation with somebody who thinks they are the incarnation of a Voodoo god, _thought Angelica Vendetti as she soared quietly over the rooftops of Port Oakes. _I still can't figure out whether it's all an act or if Bocor really is crazy_

Part of life in the Rogue Islands was learning to deal with people that were way beyond the lunatic fringe of society. Over the course of her career, she'd worked with the greedy, the megalomanical, those with a death wish, and those who just loved to kill. A few, like the information broker Mr. Bocor used uncertainty to their advantage.

Normally Angelica only came into Port Oakes for the food. The organized crime families dominated large parts of the island and, in typical fashion, used restaurants to provide a "respectable" face to their business dealings.

She really couldn't bring herself to care which family came out on top. Their power struggle seemed a bit pointless to her but she had worked for and against both of them during her mercenary career and had maintained good business relations with both. Tonight, however, she was working for herself.

Over the last few weeks she had turned down several lucrative employment offers to concentrate on finding a particular member of Arachnos; one of Recluse's Night Widows. She had very little information to work with at first but thanks to a network of contacts, friends, and generous use of her personal fortune, she now had a name... Umbra.

_And now that I know who you are, I can find you. All I need to do is squeeze a few spiders and wait for them to pop. _

Arachnos soldiers weren't hard to find in the Rogue Islands. Since Lord Recluse was the current undisputed tyrant of the entire island chain, his soldiers acted as a defacto police force. Angelica would just need to pick a street corner café and one or two would be along soon enough to bully the customers and shake down the owners. Although this cut into the families' profits, they had good enough survival instincts to let it slide.

Angelica slowed as her flight path took her close to the Port Oakes Arena. Originally designed as sports venues, the Arenas had become a sparring ground for the Islands' superhumans. It was a rare night when two or more villains weren't beating each other senseless over insults, grudges, or just simple bragging rights.

_I guess it keeps them busy, _thought Angelica. _If all the superhumans here got it into their heads to act together, Recluse would be in a deep hole somewhere and this place would collapse into total anarchy._

She shivered at the thought. _We don't need another Boomtown. _

Angelica was shaken out of her thoughts by the ringing of her cell phone. She reached up to activate the receiver on her ear. "This is Doc," she said as the line opened.

"Doc, do you have a minute?" asked the hollow sounding voice on the other end of the line. Angelica smiled. Only a few people had the number to her private line and only one of those sounded like he was talking from inside a coffee can from a long way away.

"For you E, I have more than a minute. Let me just find a rooftop to settle down on so we can talk."

He called himself the Efreet and claimed to be the sixth Beatle. He also claimed to be the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil', the man who introduced Jim Morrison to the rest of the Doors, and the real reason Napoleon lost at Waterloo. But, no matter how ridiculous his stories were, he was one of the most powerful superhumans she knew, and one of the very few she would consider calling a friend.

She reflexively checked the area around her for threats before She settled on the cracked, domed, concrete roof of the Arena. "Alright Efreet," she said once she had her footing. "What can I do for you?"

A rush of air and a slight burning smell filled the space behind her. She switched off her earpiece as she turned to face him. He was in Elvis mode tonight. If it weren't for the red skin and flame aura, he would be a fair match for the King in his Vegas days.

"Word is that you're about to start something big. We were wondering if you wanted help."

His smile was lopsided and infectious. Despite her own sense of caution, she felt herself relax and return the smile. If "we" were the people she thought they were, it would solve more than a few problems.

"Who?" she asked.

"Well, " he said, stroking his beard like Satan himself," there's me of course. Lord Nightstalker wants in, and Slash would do it just for the chance to kick some ass. We might get one or two more from our group interested but that should be enough for a nice little strike force."

Her radioactivity, Efreet's flame powers, Slash's blades and, God's help them all, Nightstalker's undead. That would give her more firepower than some small armies. All she needed now was a direction to point them in.

"Efreet, tell the guys that they're in. Let them know that I'm looking for a Night Widow named Umbra. If they find her before I do, they can do what they like to the people around her but I need to be there when they take her down. I need to ask her some questions so please remind Nightstalker that not everybody can speak with the dead.

I don't care about salvage on this one, so let them know they can keep anything interesting that they find. They can get in touch with me through you. I can trust Nightstalker but if Slash gets my cell number he'll find a way to change all of my ringtones and I really don't want to have to hurt him."

A few days later Doc Vendetta found herself flying fast over the jungles of Primeva in the Nerva Archipelago. Fast was the best way to go. If you went too slow, something might pull you straight out of the air. Doc always expected to see King Kong or Godzilla stomping around the jungle. Somehow that would make the place feel more right. As it was, it was just hot and humid, and far too green for her urban tastes.

It was Slash who had been the first to find a clue to the Widow's location and he had followed it to an old temple deep in the rainforest. He had called in the troops and then, as usual, had already gone inside looking for someone to kill.

As Doc started dropping toward the canopy, she saw Efreet's flame trail approaching from the East. He had already relayed the message that Nightstalker was on his way as well.

Doc could feel the tingle of her own radioactive powers buzzing around her fingertips. Somebody was going to pay for making her come all the way out to a sweating, stinking jungle when she could have been lying on the couch with the latest paperback.

By the time both of them landed, Lord Nightstalker had already arrived. It was obvious he had already begun assembling his troops because the nearby earth had a freshly turned look.

His powers allowed him to raise and command the dead. Extremely useful as shock troops, but to Angelica's medically trained mind, deeply disturbing. Since he worked best using whatever corpses were nearby, today's zombies were a mix of former Arachnos soldiers and two reasonably fresh looking Sky Raiders. Already slightly nauseous from the smell, she tried not to think too hard about it.

"Doc. Efreet." Nightstalker nodded his head in recognition as two of his minions pushed the doors open and shambled inside.

Since Slash was already inside, there was less chance that they would be walking into an ambush but caution was always a good plan. Efreet surrounded himself with a curtain of deep red flames as Lord Nightstalker wrapped himself in shadow.

The air around Angelica warmed and started to faintly shimmer as her own mutant abilities started converting ambient radioactivity into microwaves. Normally she had to keep everything under containment but, since it would take more than her normal background glow to effect any of the bodies around her, she could let loose.

Angelica broke into an easy jog as the group headed deeper into the temple complex. She had switched on her radio link as soon as she landed and listened while Slash gleefully gave a running commentary of how he dispatched each of the sentries that crossed his path.

On one hand, she knew that meant there wasn't any opposition she needed to worry about. On the other hand, she really did not need to hear how people died.

Slash and Lord Nightstalker worked well together. Nightstalker needed corpses and Slash was perfectly willing to provide them. Slash was one of those people who just enjoyed cutting people up. After fifteen minutes of gruesome play by play, he reported that he'd run into a group of Spiders that were a bit larger than he felt he could take alone.

As she rounded the corner, she saw the group he was talking about. She could count almost a dozen techs and roughly twice that in foot soldiers. They were busy dismantling and studying...something. Angelica would be the first to admit that she wasn't very good with technology but she was pretty sure that whatever it was wasn't Terran in origin.

"Remember, " she said quietly. "We need at least one of them to tell me where Umbra is. I don't care what happens to the rest of them."

"And if that's a bomb they're playing with there?" asked Efreet.

"Try not to get blown up."

Slash laughed "You always say that Doc. So far you've always put me back together again."

He was fading even as the last words left his lips. His particular talents allowed him to move about unseen, making him almost indispensible for an operation like this.

"We'd better go before he gets himself in trouble," said Nightstalker as he motioned his servants forward.

"Ready?" Efreet glanced sideways at Doc.

"No," laughed Angelica. "But when am I ever?"

By the time she had taken two steps into the room, Slash and the undead had already started distributing a very generous Hell. Just in her initial glance she could see three confirmed corpses among the soldiers and another half-dozen wearing lab coats. The remaining techs were making a mad dash for doors at the far end of the room while the soldiers were reforming as a rear guard. Doc knew that if they managed to get coordinated, the odds would very quickly turn against her.

"Slash, 'stalker, E, block the doors!" she shouted as her flying ability turned a low hop into a soaring leap into the center of the group of spiders.

Cutting off her flight at the top of her arc, she dropped directly into the mass of soldiers. She knew that this was a stupid thing to be doing but, if it worked, it would end the fight much sooner. Flexing her knees to absorb the shock, she focused for a moment, unleashing a microwave blast in a rapidly expanding sphere around her. Unlike other radiation powered super humans, she hadn't spent much time learning offensive uses for her gifts. This was one of the few tricks she had learned.

Those soldiers unable to avoid the initial shock wave staggered away stunned or fell to their knees burned and scarred. If they survived the fight, they would soon start feeling the ravages of radiation poisoning.

_I should feel more guilty about that. Why don't I? Focus. Don't think about it now._

Using the brief pause that her first attack created, Doc activated a different aspect of her powers. The air around her took on a shimmer as she allowed her own microwaves to seep into the space around her. Anyone standing close would find themselves choking and unable to draw a full breath. Doc could feel the sweat starting on her own skin. It always cost her a lot of personal energy to do things like this and if any of the spiders noticed, her day would suddenly get very painful.

The soldiers never got the chance. As she watched, several of them became human bonfires. Efreet had followed her lead and was busy igniting those soldiers that were still potential threats. Doc glanced up to see that Slash was holding the techs at bay all on his own while Lord Nightstalker and his minions were blocking all of the exits.

Now that there was less urgency, Doc allowed herself to relax and let her field dissipate. Scanning around the room she estimated the health of her partners. Efreet and Nightstalker were fine but, as usual, Slash was bleeding from several cuts and bullet wounds. And, also as usual, he was grinning like a maniac. Once again, he would be her first priority.

Angelica's medical training allowed her to direct her energies to where they would do the most good. While she could not instantly close wounds, she could stimulate the body to heal itself many times quicker than normal. To an outsider, it would look like the same thing. Bullets and shrapnel in the wound weren't a threat since she would melt those away during the process. By now it was old habit, and it would only take seconds.

"See, you always put me together again." Slash grinned as he let light reflect off of his claws and into the eyes of the techs. He would terrorize them just for the fun of it. He might not kill them, but they didn't need to know that.

"The spirits tell me that there are no other living beings in this building," said Nightstalker after a few moments. " I think we're clear." Doc nodded her thanks as she walked over to the huddling scientists.

"I'm feeling sympathetic today." she started as she addressed the group. "All I want is some information. If I get what I want, you will all get to live another day. If not..." she let the thought hang while trying not to laugh. The other three were doing their best at looking terrifying. _Which isn't really all that hard for them._

Doc slowly counted the seconds in her head. Before she even got to ten one of the techs spoke up "What do you want to know?" Sometimes it was all too easy. She smiled warmly at him and pointed at the device in the middle of the floor.

"Just tell me what that is and where I can find a Widow named Umbra. Then you're all free to go."

"What? Out there?" one of the others spoke up. "It's all jungle."

Doc let her smile fade. "Out there something MIGHT kill you. In here something COULD kill you. It's your choice. Right now, I'm tired, thirsty, sweaty, and I want to go home and relax. The longer you keep me from doing that, the more certain I will be that something WILL kill you. So, start talking."

chapter 7: ENDINGS

_It's bad enough that we have thousands of our own Mad Scientists, _thought Doc Vendetta as she soared high above the buildings of Cap Au Diable and letting her mind drift back over the events of the day. _But now every idiot in the Rogue Islands can pick up Rikti Tech on the black market. _

She let a small shiver of anger and fear pass through her body. For the past few months, Doc had been spending time in the Rikti warzone using her abilities to keep both heroes and villains fighting. She'd been face to face with the aliens far more often than she would admit and she couldn't even explain to herself why she did it.

"Are you starting to develop a conscience Angelica?" she said to herself as the balcony to her apartment came into view.

Normally it would be risky letting people see you land on your own doorstep. After all, you never knew which of your enemies might want to know something like that.

Most villains addressed the security issue by taking up residence in abandoned mines, caves, or old warehouses. Doc dealt with it by ignoring it. Other than a few (very expensive) voice activated locks, some extra reinforcement of the doors and windows, and one or two security features ... _must remember to drop a line to the manufacturer about those bio-signature sensitive random teleporters..._her apartment was pretty much like any other in the better part of New Haven. Despite its designer decor and full compliment of modern consumer luxuries, right at that moment Doc was really only interested in the shower and the bottle of white wine in the refrigerator.

A few long minutes later she emerged from the bathroom wrapped in an old, faded, blue bathrobe. Grey sweatpants loosely draped past her ankles forcing her to shuffle slightly as she walked across the room and a bathtowel wrapped her red hair in a loose turban. She constantly promised herself that her work would not interfere with her life. Somehow she was never quite able to keep that promise.

The back alleys and fissures of Faultline were never the safest places even at the best of times. Between the bands of the Lost, the Clockwork, the occasional Vazhilok zombie, and the ever-present threat of the ground collapsing, it was a miracle anyone chose to stay more than five minutes.

Quiet Vindication made her home here.

Originally drawn here by the affordable rent, Vindication had fallen in love with this corner of Paragon City. The shattered neighborhood became an unconscious symbol of her own experiences.

_We're a lot alike Overbrook. Broken, but not beyond hope. _

For most of the night she'd been chasing a squad of Arachnos foot soldiers. Their numbers had been slowly increasing over the last few weeks, forcing most of the normal predators deeper into the shadows.

It was a commonly accepted rule among Paragon City's heroes that wherever the spiders started gathering something bad was about to happen. The rumors about Arachos's next big project had been circulating for weeks but, as usual, nobody had a definite idea what it was. Vindication felt certain she knew.

_It's my fault. I have to make sure nobody gets hurt because of my stupidity._

For a moment, she could feel the old nightmares trying to ooze their way back into her waking mind. Roselynn had given her the best defenses she could create, but they both knew that it would take time to fully heal.

_Time and action, Roselynn. You never could wrap your head around the need to DO something. That's why I'm here instead of back at home studying for that ethics test tomorrow. _

The sound of automatic gunfire and a shower of brick fragments pulled her attention back to the here and now. The soldiers had finally gotten tired of being chased and decided to do something about it.

_Five to one. No matter what you do, this is going to hurt. _

Vindication ducked back around the corner and reached into the quiver on her back pulling out one of her least favorite trick arrows.

_I hate this_. _At the least, I'll give them concussions and burst eardrums. At most, I shatter their ribs and collapse the walls around them. Why do they force me to do this?_

Pulling the string on her bow back, she took a slow breath, swung back around the corner, and let the arrow fly. The sudden forward motion of the shaft tripped the arming switch in the head. Any solid impact after that would trigger the explosive warhead. Every time she used it, she promised herself that she would aim at the ground at her target's feet. Somehow, it was becoming harder to keep that promise.

The sound of her cell phone ringing woke Doc from a deep sleep. As her eyes tried to focus, she realized that she hadn't made it farther than the sofa. The bottle sat on the coffee table, still half full.

_Good girl Angelica. You know better than that._

Doc slowly rose to her feet, wondering where she had left her phone. She hoped she hadn't left it in the laundry hamper again. It was hard enough replacing phones every few months because they burned themselves out inside her radiation field but trying to dry one out after it had been in the washer was just embarrassing. A few moments later she found it on the kitchen counter, right where she had left it earlier.

_Hm, still need to fix that cabinet that Dani broke._

"Doc." she said, opening the connection.

"Ah, the lovely Doc Vendetta " said the all too familiar voice on the other end of the line."It's so nice to see you awake and alert this fine evening."

"Burke." The word was flat and emotionless. Almost a curse. The old letch had a way of getting on her nerves like no other person could. Particularly when she wasn't fully awake.

She could hear him sigh over the line. He loved flirting even though he knew he didn't have a chance.

"Would it hurt you to be nice once in a while? I have what you asked for." He paused for a few moments letting her get up to speed. Despite his faults, he was a professional and was worth the cost of his fees. When he felt Doc was clear-headed enough, he continued.

"I've been able to confirm that the lady you're looking for is in Faultline. Problem is, you'll need an army. Longbow has their usual contingent there. The Sky Raiders have recently moved in and Arachnos has doubled their forces over the last week.

Fortunately, the Freedom Phalanx seems to be more focused on the Rikti right now and there aren't that many capes that operate in that area. You might be able to get a group in without drawing too much attention. I have a few people on retainer if you need muscle."

Faultline. It had to be there.

It was widely assumed that only four heroes regularly patrolled that part of the city. Temblor and Fusionette were still fairly new and not much of a threat. Doc Delilah was more scientist than crime fighter and Mirror Spirit could be easily avoided. People sometimes included Penelope Yin on that list but she was more of a wildcard than actual threat.

Doc was more concerned by the presence of the one hero that nobody would include on any threat list.

"Doc?" Burke's voice sounded concerned. She had gotten lost in thought for too long.

"Thank you for the offer Matthew but I already have some associates lined up. Please make arrangements for transportation beyond the walls. I'll want to leave in 24 hours."

She ended the call and leaned back against the counter.

_An army? If I call in a few favors that's just what I'll have. I hope you're having fun bitch. This ends tomorrow._

Vindication ran as fast as she dared through the rain slicked streets of Overbrook.

The police scanner had erupted with panic calls less than an hour ago. As far as she could tell, a large group of superpowered villains had gotten past the war walls and were now involved in a massive fight over and around Overbrook Dam. Longbow had been all but overwhelmed and were barely holding the entrances to the Dam. Reinforcements were on the way but it would take time. Vindication knew that this was probably more than she could handle alone but who else was there?

Doc Vendetta soared through the canyons of Faultline looking for her quarry. Her allies were making so much noise on the other side of the Dam that she knew that anyone who would want to stop her was far too busy to try.

_Lord Nightstalker, and Scarlett dropping their troops right into the center of the Sky Raider's camp was fabulous. I didn't know zombies could be used for airborne assaults. Efreet, Swan, and Slash are just chewing up everything Longbow throws at them. The local capes don't know which way to turn and the spiders are trying to take on everyone._

Now I just need a break.

A flash of red and black below her caught her eye. Doc looped back just in time to see the door close on one of the service lifts that surrounded the restoration areas.

_She's heading for street level. Good. Flying through canyons is just too Luke Skywalker for my tastes._

Doc arched her back slightly bringing herself into a climb. If she timed it right, she could be in position to strike as soon as the lift door opened. She just cleared the canyon wall when a searing bolt of pain ripped through her mind. Stunned, she fell and landed hard on the crumbling wet pavement.

"Too obvious dear. Way too obvious.I don't know what Lord Recluse ever saw in you. We should have buried you the day you arrived on Mercy."

Through waves of pain Doc could follow the voice back to it's source. Long, iron gray hair weighted by the rain hung straight down over a pale oval face. Pale green eyes surrounded by the faint early lines of wrinkles were flat and devoid of any mercy. Thin, bluish lips were twisted in a joyless smile. She still wore the torn remnants of the form fitting red and black uniform of a Blood Widow.

"I don't know why you've been chasing me but you've become an annoyance. I don't have time for you." The Widow's leg swung in a tight arc catching Doc in the stomach. What little air was left in Doc's lungs from the fall was driven out by the blow. A second kick flipped her over on to her back and a third sent her rolling toward the canyon edge.

Vindication rounded the corner in time to see a battered Blood Widow delivering three powerful kicks to a prone body. The third kick had rolled the body toward the edge and the victim would almost certainly go over the edge unless she acted.

She drew and fired the arrow she had resting on the string. A second followed before the first was even midway. Even as her hands were moving, her mind reached out to the figure on the cliff edge sending a wave of strengthening and healing energies. She hoped it would be enough to give them a fighting chance. Her own future was no less certain. She knew that the rain would rapidly make her bow worthless so she needed to end the fight as quickly as possible.

The first arrow forced the Widow to turn away from her victim. The second shot grazed the Widow's ribs as she dodged with almost impossible agility. Vindication had a third arrow ready to release when her hands went numb.

_Not Her! Not here! _

The Widow smiled. "Hello again my dear. We've missed you." Vindication could feel the nightmares again as the sledgehammer mental blows battered her defenses. The arrow dropped to the ground forgotten as Vindication focused all of her attention on preserving her shredding sanity.

"Maybe there is something to be salvaged from this night after all," said the widow in a mocking, sing-song, tone.

"I think I'll take your head back to Lord Recluse and let him dig the answers he wants out of your brain. The twin blades that were part of every Blood Widow's arsenal slid out from wrist sheaths and her right arm drew back for a slashing blow.

An energy bolt slammed into the Widow's back, scorching the thin fabric. Although there wasn't much impact strength, the burning pain forced the widow to turn and face her new attacker.

"It's me again."

Doc Vendetta stood at the edge of the canyon. The air around her glowing from the stray radioactivity she emitted. Her clothing was streaked with mud and her hair which was normally tied back, had been shaken loose and draped around her face. The air around her extended left hand sizzled as she unleashed another energy bolt.

The Widows reflexes were already taxed but a quick twist allowed her to partially dodge the second bolt. Screaming in pain and rage, she launched herself forward to tear the heart out of this new threat.

Vindication could feel her mind becoming her own again. _But how? I was... She was going to... _She looked up in time to see that the Widow's earlier victim had gotten back to his _No her _feet and was fighting back. Vindication was certain that she was still in a nightmare. The Widow was just about to tear apart somebody that looked just like...

"Angelica! NO!" Daniella's scream echoed from the depths of her heart.

If she could save one person, it had to be Her. Without thought for her own safety, Quiet Vindication grabbed a handful of arrows from her quiver and, holding them like miniature spears, dove forward plunging them into the Widow's exposed back.

Several small explosions shook the Widow's body as the various specialized arrowheads activated almost simultaneously. Flaming chemicals ignited and spread over the Widow's body while anesthetic gasses and clinging putty expanded to cover as much space as possible. Regular razor tipped broadheads cut into muscle while tasers sent electricity through the wounds. Vindication was tossed away as the backlash spread into her own body.

The damage was too much even for a Blood Widow. As the body fell to the ground like a broken toy, Doc stepped past the Widow to get to her sister.

Her sister, the Hero.

Doc knelt by Daniella's semi conscious form. A glow spread out from her hands, covering the younger woman with mild healing energies.

"Dani? Come on, talk to me. I know you're not dead so say something."

"Daniella." said Vindication groggily. " I hate it when you call me Dani."

"Ok," laughed Doc in relief. "Ok... Daniella."

As the pair slowly climbed to their feet, Daniella saw, for a moment, the sister she remembered. There were questions she wanted to ask but she knew she'd never get answers to. She decided on a much simpler one.

"What now?"

Doc thought for a moment. "You go home and get some sleep. You need it. Things should be a bit quieter around here for a while since my friends have eliminated a lot of manpower from the Sky Raiders and Arachnos cells here. It might be months before they get back into business." She gestured at the Widow's body. "I'll take that back to the Rogue Islands where it belongs and make sure the right people get it."

"But won't that..."

Doc held her hand up to stop the question. "I told you before, no explanations. I made my choices and I'll stick with them. I'm going home. I don't belong here." Angelica looked into her sister's eyes and a faint smile creased her lips.

"But you do."

chapter 8: POSTSCRIPT

The freighter rocked slowly as it made its way back to the Rogue Islands. As soon as the ship had cleared the War Walls, her allies that could make their own way back jumped into the sky or bent timespace or did whatever it was they did to get from here to there. Doc enjoyed the silence because it meant, for now, her world was at relative peace.

A soft moan brought her attention around to the figure lying on the deck next to her. Somehow the Widow had survived her wounds and had regained consciousness shortly after leaving port.

"Lord Reclu-... he will ... kill...you both... for thi..."

"Maybe." said Doc as she looked down. " But you'll never get to her again."

The sounds of a single gunshot and a hollow splash were lost in the sound of the freighters engines.


End file.
